1. Client Overview

Industry: Steel reinforcement and fabricated rebar solutions for infrastructure and construction.

Client Context:
InfraBuild Reinforcing (formerly Liberty OneSteel REO) is a national leader in steel rebar, mesh, and reinforcing solutions. It services:

• Major builders
• Precast operators
• Engineering contractors
• Independent resellers

Challenges prompting change:

• Procurement-led pricing pressure
• Complex service and delivery requirements

Goal: Shift from volume-driven, cost-plus pricing to a value-based pricing strategy aligned to:

• Customer risk
• Project complexity
• Service delivery expectations

2. Challenge / Problem

Symptoms Observed:

• Inconsistent pricing across states with multiple customer matrices and branch-level overrides
• Sales incentivised on volume, often sacrificing margin to “win the tonnes”
• Value-added services (e.g. engineering, delivery flexibility, product traceability) not priced in
• Branch managers lacked tools and training to defend pricing
• Discounting reactive, disconnected from segment risk or project value

Strategic Impact:

• Under-pricing of high-risk, service-heavy projects
• Over-discounting to resellers diluted margins
• Value was understood instinctively but not reflected in quotes or contracts
• Fragmented systems, lack of CRM, and manual quoting constrained scalability
• Premium services were delivered, but not reflected in price outcomes

3. Objectives of the Engagement

• Assess pricing capability across people, strategy, tools, and systems using the Pricing Insight Diagnostic Model
• Develop a pricing strategy that supports value differentiation and margin expansion
• Build pricing confidence across sales, operations, and management
• Identify quick wins and long-term structure improvements to enhance quoting and deal quality
• Align pricing structures and customer segmentation nationally
• Standardise governance and approval processes

4. Our Approach

• Ran Revenue & Margin Strength Finder (RMSF) Diagnostic in NSW, Southern Region, and National teams
• Facilitated Customer Value Canvas workshops for segments:
  • Precast
  • Resellers
  • Volume builders
  • Civil contractors
• Conducted capability assessments and margin expansion scenario modelling
• Identified root causes of underpricing and structural misalignment by tier, region, and product
• Built a priority plan for:
  • Governance
  • Pricing policy
  • Capability training
  • System upgrades

5. Key Issues Identified

• No consistent, documented pricing strategy across states
• No segmentation by value or strategic importance
• Cost-plus and historical pricing dominated; service was rarely priced in
• Customer agreements lacked links to value delivery (e.g. no surcharges)
• Systems (e.g. JDE) lacked flexibility to price by cost-to-serve
• Pricing governance was ad hoc; overrides were common
• Sales and ops KPIs were misaligned (sales focused on tonnes, ops bore costs)
• Cultural resistance to pricing increases was high
• Margin leakage on infrastructure and builder projects due to:
  • Flat pricing
  • Limited visibility
  • Over-servicing

6. Key Actions Taken

• Built a national pricing strategy template:
  • Segment logic
  • Pricing structures
  • Governance protocols
• Introduced Customer Value Canvas to align value drivers to pricing decisions
• Trained frontline teams via the Pricing University:
  • Value-based pricing
  • Customer negotiation
  • Pricing maths
• Drafted pricing authority and escalation frameworks
• Defined new roles:
  • Central pricing team
  • State-level pricing champions
• Designed use cases for quoting system overhaul (service vs product, surcharges, risk-adjusted pricing)
• Identified potential for algorithmic pricing in volatile environments
• Recommended CRM + quoting platform integration
• Launched national capability plan with:
  • Diagnostics
  • Playbooks
  • Deal review tools
  • Value-based quoting guides

7. Results Achieved

• Uplift across all pricing capability domains: strategy, value capture, governance, execution
• Shift from “tonnes-first” to “margin-first” mindset, backed by data and roles
• Early modelling identified $7M–$10M gross margin opportunity nationally
• Increased sales team confidence in:
  • Value articulation
  • Field-tested negotiation
• Identified pricing risk in high-volume accounts → triggered pricing of service components
• National roadmap approved to:
  • Modernise pricing systems
  • Centralise analytics
  • Build internal pricing leadership network

8. Client Feedback

“We’ve always known that we do more for our customers than the price reflects. This diagnostic gave us a structured way to prove it—and to start taking action. We’ve now got the tools, strategy, and alignment to price with confidence.”
— Regional Commercial Leader, InfraBuild Reinforcing

9. What This Means for Similar Companies

In steel, construction products, and trade supply, margin loss often stems from:

• Customer-first execution without pricing discipline
• Volume-chasing and cost-plus inertia
• Lack of cross-functional pricing accountability

InfraBuild’s case proves:

• Even legacy, high-volume businesses can reset their pricing model
• Margin can be recovered without losing customer value
• The key is commercial discipline and capability, not discounting

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